After sampling some fine wine and an overnight in Chateauneuf-du-Pape, we hit the road again for a five-hour drive to Toulouse, the heart of southwest France. But, since we were on a road trip, we decided to stop at Arles, one of the interesting places along the way. I was very interested in the local cuisine, the vibe, and the Airbus factory that employs many people in the area of Toulouse.
Getting There
It’s not hard getting in or out of Chateauneuf-du-pape, the village is quite small. Although we could have saved an hour or so driving down the freeway, we had all day to get to Toulouse, so we chose to make a pit stop in Arles along the way.
Arles For The Day
Arles is an ancient Roman town with a coliseum at the top of a hill. The well-preserved town spills down the hill from there. We enjoyed the midday traipsing around town, checking out all of the small streets and weathered buildings. We had a nice chat with one of the local artists to see what she was doing.
Our visit finished up at Le Couchon Qui Fume with a lunch of smoked pork belly and pate that was really quite good. It’s definitely worth a visit to this town even though we sweltered a bit in the August heat.
The Hotel in Toulouse
According to our current theory of “stay near where you want to spend your time”, we chose to plant ourselves smack dab in the middle of town. Initially, we had to navigate our car through a handful of semi-pedestrian streets with people sauntering across at will. It was a bit harrowing and certainly didn’t seem like the right way to go, but it was. Our parking lot was under one of the main squares. Unfortunately, we could not take an elevator up to the top, so we had to drag our bags up the ramp that we used to drive down into the garage. Without much further complication, we were able to get to our hotel, the Plaza Hotel Capitole Toulouse.
The Plaza Hotel Capitole Toulouse was a former Crowne Plaza. It seemed the facility was once quite nice, but it was beginning to show its age. When we checked in, we went directly to our room and found the air conditioning was either not working or barely adequate. We went straight down to the front desk and managed to convince an agent to provide us with a new room. We wound up getting a bigger room with good AC, which was a nice upgrade for our four-night stay.
As hoped, we were able to easily get around from our hotel. Eventually, we even figured out how to manage the semi-pedestrian streets without anxiety. I would recommend staying there, just be sure you get a room that’s got decent AC when you arrive.
The Toulouse Vibe
Toulouse has been on my radar since we began our roving retirement five years ago. With its population of half a million people, I wondered whether it was a potential kinder, gentler, and smaller alternative to Paris, which has a population of a little over 2 million people. In addition, I felt it would have interesting cultural activities given it is the seat of several significant universities.
The Garonne River and the Canal du Midi converge in Toulouse, making it a major trade hub through much of its history. It’s a pleasant distraction to take a walk by the riverside and people-watch. Overall, I would say it was more laid back than Paris, but maybe not enough going on to hold me for an extended stay.
The Inquisition
The Haute-Garonne department, of which Toulouse is the capital, has a checkered past concerning human rights. It was in this area that the French Inquisition began in the 13th century. The Cathars were a dualist Christian group that challenged the power of the Catholic church. In response, Pope Innocent III (eye-roll) launched a full-scale campaign to persecute and annihilate these “heretics”. Cathars were occasionally burned alive inside their churches.
There was a special exhibit at one of the local museums. It featured an even-handed and sobering recounting of the history of the Cathars and the region. It did give one pause in light of today’s rhetoric.
The Airbus Factory Tour
On the lighter side, literally and physically, we did get a chance to visit the nearby Airbus museum and factory tour. Honestly, I had forgotten Toulouse was the center of the Airbus industry. It was only when I saw signs proclaiming this while driving into town that I was reminded. We hopped on the Internet to see what we could do in terms of a tour and found we were just barely able to get tickets for an Airbus tour in English for the factory floor during our scheduled stay.
We took a factory tour of the Boeing production facility in Everett WA seven or eight years ago, so it was interesting to compare to how things were going over at Airbus. In Washington, the building we were in was huge and there were two different lines manufacturing 767s and 747s. There you can see how the the planes would be moved along this tour. By contrast, in Toulouse, an airplane is assembled more or less in place. Really there are only two planes in a given line at a time and 6 lines active altogether.
Another interesting aspect we learned was this factory functions as an assembly point, where many of the components are fabricated elsewhere and shipped here. For example, the wings came from Germany and parts from many other places. It’s a way to get buy-in from the various European countries to support the industry. Unfortunately, they didn’t allow any photography for the tour. You’ll just have to get there and see for yourself.
Airplane Museums
The museum had many older planes in good condition, not just from Airbus. There was a nice history of the development of flight in the region. I did take issue with the claim the first powerd flight was actually taken in France, although there were no witnesses to it like there was for the Wright brothers and the French experiments were not followed up in a timely manner.
It was also fun to crawl around their A380 and Concord. I recommend going to the museum first to put the tour in context. A visit to the site is an all-day affair if you really want to get the most out of it. There’s even a small, unaffiliated, outdoor museum of older, less well-preserved but still relevant historical airplanes. They were cool to ogle, too.
Cassoulet and Confit
This region of France is home to cassoulet, a dish I really like when done well. On our first night, we wandered over to Restaurant Au Gascon, where I had the cassoulet and Diana had the confit. Even though the bistro seemed pretty ordinary, I felt this was the best cassoulet I’ve had. It was fresh moist and flavorful. I liked it so much, I made Diana go back another night with me.
We also enjoyed the visit to the main covered market. It’s always fun to view the various products available and think about how they taste and what we might do with them. Finally, we hit an Asian joint for a change of pace. It was quite bad. Oh well, not every meal in France can be perfect.
Seared foie gras starter 
Fabulous cassoulet 
Confit of duck leg 
Pear strudel? 
Diana got duck breast this time 
More cassoulet 
French tomatoes are the best 
In the market 
It’s France, after all 
In case you need a break from all that grocery shopping 
Greasy spring rolls 
Bony cripy duck 
After the bad Asian, Diana needed a pick me up. 
Crepe in process
Final Thoughts
Upon reflection, a comparison of Paris and Toulouse strikes me as similar to New York and Portland OR. In the big cities, a lot is going on whereas in these other towns, it’s fun and there are things to do but not nearly as much. Perhaps I’m doing Toulouse a disservice because I was comparing it in August when people are away and the university students are out. Maybe during the term, there will be more cultural events available.
